In an April Featured Expert Contributor post, Appeals Court Rejects EPA Effort to Avoid Judicial Review Through Guidance Documents, Hunton & Williams’ Allison Wood examined a U.S. Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit decision, Iowa League of Cities v. EPA. The court ruled that EPA violated the Administrative Procedures Act when it changed two policies for regulating municipal wastewater treatment plants through letters sent to Senator Charles Grassley. Such changes constituted “rules” for which EPA should have engaged in formal notice and comment rulemaking.

In a July 30 order, the court ordered EPA to pay Iowa League of Cities $526,138.41 in attorneys’ fees. The Eighth Circuit panel had initially rejected the League’s request for fees under Clean Water Act Section 509(b)(3) . The League filed a Petition for Partial Rehearing, which EPA opposed.

The court agreed that the League was a “prevailing party” under the Clean Water Act, and that the lawsuit

assisted in the proper implementation of the CWA by upholding ‘the policy of Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution’ and by ensuring public participation in the development of effluent limitations.

We’re pleased to see that the cost, and the risk, of avoiding public accountability have just gone up for EPA and other federal agencies.